MALL Local Updates

The Medford City Council approved an agreement with Quality Fence that will result in replacement of ballfield fencing at Bear Creek Park in exchange for recognition opportunities.

Starting this month, Quality Fence, a Rogue Valley-based company, will replace residential-grade chain-link fence posts and fabric with commercial-grade materials, a $145,000 in-kind value. In exchange, the complex name will be named “Quality Fence Fields at Bear Creek Park” through 2028.

New fencing tremendously augments efforts by the Parks, Recreation and Facilities Department and the Medford American Little League (MALL) to upgrade the safety and appearance of the ballfields based in conjunction with a multi-year refurbishment plan jointly developed by the Department and MALL in 2016. At that time, new field fencing was identified as a high-priority need.

“We are grateful to Quality Fence and the Rietmann family for stepping up to the plate to improve the quality of the Bear Creek Park ballfields for both kids and spectators,” Parks, Recreation and Facilities director Rich Rosenthal said. “This is an excellent example of a mutually beneficial public-private partnership that improves Medford’s park system.”

Fence installation is slated for Fields 4 and 7 this calendar year, in time for the MALL opening ceremony in April. Fields 2, 5 and 6 would be completed in 2019; Fields 1 and 3 in 2020; and a new Field 5 outfield fence in 2021.

The Bear Creek Park ballfields serve approximately 400 MALL baseball and softball participants. MALL has had an exclusive facility use agreement with the City since the 1980s. Until recently, MALL’s all-volunteer board was responsible for ballfield facility development and maintenance.

“The response by Quality Fence far exceeded our hopes and expectations and their contributions to this complex will play a major role in the facilitation of future upgrades,” MALL president Kerry Curtis said.

“We want this complex to be a place that youth athletes and their families can be proud of. Quality Fence shares that vision with us and without their contributions and support these upgrades would not have otherwise been feasibly possible.”

The Department uses the ballfields to operate the award-winning annual Junior Giants baseball and t-ball program. In 2017, the free, eight-week summertime program served 563 boys and girls – the fourth-largest among 97 subsidized by the San Francisco Giants Community Fund.

“The Rietmann family and Quality Fence Company are proud to have supported the youth of Jackson County for over 35 years,” Quality Fence president Steve Rietmann said.

The Quality Fence agreement is the City’s ninth park or recreation facility naming-rights agreement since 2007, the second outside of U.S. Cellular Community Park, and the first at Bear Creek Park.